Evaluation of source of corn silage and trace minerals on lactational performance and total-tract nutrient digestibility in Holstein cows

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of source of corn silage and trace minerals on lactational performance and totaltract digestibility (TTD) of nutrients in 16 Holstein cows averaging 82 (standard error = 3) days in milk in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with 28-d periods. The diets consisted [dry matter (DM) basis] of 55% conventional (CON) or brown midrib-3 (BM3) corn silage, 2% chopped wheat straw, and 43% grain mix with either sulfate (STM) or hydroxy (HTM) sources of copper, manganese, and zinc trace minerals. The targeted supplemental concentrations of copper, zinc, and manganese were 194, 1,657, and 687 mg/d, respectively. The dietary treatments were CON-STM, CON-HTM, BM3-STM, and BM3-HTM. The dietary nutrient composition of the BM3 diets averaged 32.1% amylase neutral detergent fiber on an organic matter basis (aNDFom) and 6.9% undigested neutral detergent fiber at 240 h (uNDF240om; % of DM), and CON diets averaged 36.2% aNDFom and 8.6% uNDF240om (% of DM). The average supplemental concentrations of copper, zinc, and manganese for the STM diets were 10, 41, and 64 mg/kg, respectively, and the average supplemental concentrations of copper, zinc, and manganese for the HTM diets were 10, 40, and 62 mg/kg, respectively. The average total dietary concentrations of copper, zinc, and manganese for the STM diets were 17, 104, and 60 mg/kg, respectively, and the average total dietary concentrations of copper, zinc, and manganese for the HTM diets were 17, 91, and 66 mg/ kg, respectively. Data were summarized by period and analyzed as a replicated Latin square design with fixed model effects for corn silage, trace minerals, corn silage × trace mineral interaction, period within replicated square, and replicated square using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Cow within replicated square was a random effect. Cows fed the BM3 diets had greater dry matter intake (DMI) and milk yield (28.1 and 47.0 kg/d) than cows fed the CON diets (27.5 and 44.7 kg/d). We found no significant interaction between corn silage and trace minerals for DMI and milk yield. Cows fed the HTM diets (28.1 kg/d) had a greater DMI than cows fed the STM diets (27.5 kg/d). Cows fed the BM3 diets had greater TTD of DM and OM (72.8 and 74.1% of DM) than cows fed the CON diets (71.1 and 72.3% of DM). Cows fed the HTM diets had a tendency for greater TTD of aNDFom than cows fed the STM diets (56.8 vs. 54.9% of DM). Cows fed the CON diets ruminated longer during the day than cows fed the BM3 diets (524 vs. 496 min/d). Corn silage with greater NDF digestibility and lower uNDF240om enhanced DMI, milk yield, and TTD of DM and OM, and hydroxy trace minerals improved DMI and tended to improve TTD of aNDFom. The source of corn silage and trace minerals should be taken into consideration when formulating diets for high-producing dairy cows.

Evaluation of Mineral Contents in Milk of Dairy Cattle Fed Elephant Grass Planted at Ex-Coal Mining Land

“…Trace mineral (TM) content of EEG was higher than FEG ( Table 1). The result agreed with Miller et al (2019) reporting that TM sources affected DMI. Additionally, DMI is influenced by the source roughage with its total mixed fiber (Maneerat et al, 2013) and forage particle size (Reynolds et al, 2018).…”

Total-tract digestibility and milk productivity of dairy cows as affected by trace mineral sources

“…However, increases were observed for milk fat yield (+51 g/d, P = 0.03) and FPCM (+1.0 kg/d, P = 0.04) of multiparous cows associated with the replacement of sulfate with hydroxychloride trace minerals. These effects were not observed in previous lactating cow studies with comparable experimental treatments (Faulkner et al, 2017;Miller et al, 2020) despite greater response in apparent total-tract NDF digestibility reported compared with our study. Nevertheless, changes in OM or NDF digestibility or both may not necessarily be the only factors affecting the presence or absence and potential size of milk responses.…”

“…The second notable effect observed in the current study was the improvement in NDF digestibility (+0.8%, P = 0.03) when sulfate trace minerals were replaced by hydroxychloride trace minerals Several studies have reported the effects of full replacement of Zn, Cu, and Mn provided by sulfate supplements with hydroxychloride supplements on apparent total-tract digestibility of DM and NDF (Faulkner and Weiss, 2017;Caldera et al, 2019;Guimaraes et al, 2019Guimaraes et al, , 2020Miller et al, 2020). Figure 2 digestibility reported in these studies, including results observed in the current study.…”

“…Several studies have reported that apparent totaltract NDF digestibility was improved when Cu, Zn, and Mn sulfates were replaced by hydroxychloride forms of these minerals (Faulkner and Weiss, 2017;Caldera et al, 2019;Guimaraes et al, 2019Guimaraes et al, , 2020Miller et al, 2020). The lower ruminal solubility of hydroxychloride Zn and Cu compared with ZnSO 4 and CuSO 4 (Caldera et al, 2019) has been hypothesized as the main cause of the digestibility response reported.…”

Evaluation of source of corn silage and trace minerals on rumen characteristics and passage rate of Holstein cows

“…This paper is a companion study to Miller et al (2020), and focuses on rumen characteristics and particle passage rate using a subset of 8 ruminally cannulated, multiparous cows.…”